Merkel's one sentence caused a storm in four Eastern European countries
On October 3 local time, former German Chancellor Merkel said in an interview with the Hungarian opposition media "Partizán" that Poland and the three Baltic states bear partial responsibility for the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. She believed that Poland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania refused to allow her and French President Macron to directly dialogue with Russian President Putin in 2021, which was organized by the EU, indirectly leading to the outbreak of the conflict.
According to the European edition of "Politico" and the British "Daily Telegraph" on October 6, Merkel's remarks immediately triggered strong dissatisfaction and fierce rebuttals from these four Eastern European countries. The reports stated that countries in this region have long been dissatisfied with Germany's complacency regarding the issue of Russia as a major security threat.
At the same time, when Merkel was fiercely criticized, some European country leaders supported her.
According to the Serbian media "Blic", on October 6, Serbian President Vučić responded to the incident, saying: "It is interesting that Ms. Merkel spoke out at this time. That is why I must take it seriously now. I don't know why she chose to make this statement at this time, but if she had continued as (German) chancellor, I believe there would not have been a conflict between Russia and Ukraine."
Politico EU reported that on October 6 local time, former Latvian Prime Minister Krišjānis Kariņš refuted Merkel's statement, stating that many countries did not truly understand Russia at that time, including Germany and Merkel herself.
"I have always told her that you cannot deal with Putin with 'goodwill', but she thought the views of the Baltic states were wrong. I am clear about Merkel's position, but I was shocked that she still holds this view after everything that has happened in Ukraine," Kariņš said.
Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna claimed that Russia is entirely responsible for the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
He wrote on the social media platform X: "The only motive for Russia's invasion of Ukraine is its refusal to accept the fact of the collapse of the Soviet Union, as well as its endless 'imperialist ambitions'. Russia should be held accountable for this 'aggression'."
Merkel's comments also caused a strong reaction in Poland, especially criticism from right-wing forces.
Former Polish Prime Minister and current vice-chairman of the opposition party Law and Justice (PiS), Mateusz Morawiecki, strongly criticized on X: "Merkel proved through her careless interview that she is one of the most destructive German politicians in the past century."
European Parliament member of the PiS party Waldemar Buda claimed: "Merkel said she wants to reach an agreement with Putin again, which could lead to the division of Ukraine! They don't understand that making deals with Putin actually sparked the war!"
Former Polish ambassador to Russia and current Minister of Regional Policy of the Polish 2050 Party, Katarzyna Pełczyńska-Nałęcz, accused Merkel's statements of only boosting Russian propaganda.
However, former Polish ambassador to the United States Marek Magierowski believed that the media distorted Merkel's comments.
"This former chancellor (Merkel) just said that the Baltic states and Poland disagreed with establishing a new EU negotiation model with Russia," he wrote on X: "There is a long way from this sentence to the claim that 'Poland shares joint responsibility for Putin's war.'"
However, Magierowski's evaluation of Merkel was no less harsh. He called her political term, which lasted over 16 years, "a huge disaster for Germany and Europe."
The Daily Telegraph introduced that Merkel's recent visit to Hungary was also to promote her memoir "Freedom", which mainly mentions her most controversial policies and justifies them, such as opening the border to 1 million refugees in 2015 and allowing Germany to highly rely on cheap Russian gas.
The book also tells an anecdote, where Merkel claimed that Putin brought his black Labrador dog Koni to intimidate her during a meeting in 2007 because he knew she was afraid of dogs.
"Angela (Merkel), please forgive me," Putin apologized to Merkel again on November 28 last year at a press conference. Putin explained that in his memory, Germans all liked dogs, and he didn't know that Merkel was afraid of dogs. He just wanted to create a good atmosphere for the conversation with his dog. He had already apologized to Merkel about this matter before.
Original: www.toutiao.com/article/1845367071092748/
Statement: This article represents the personal views of the author.